Baked Chicken Meatball Parm

Have I mentioned that my kids love meatballs?  All kinds - beef, pork, turkey, chicken.  What's not to love, right?  You can make them out of anything, season them up how you like, mix and roll up the ingredients and pop them in the oven.  Boom!  Dinner (or meal prep) comes together so quickly! 

These little babies are unbelievably tender and so flavorful!  They are perfect for when you get a craving for Italian comfort food but not all the fat and calories that go with it.  Oh, and wait... did I mention that these are easy, healthy, AND budget friendly?  Winner winner chicken dinner!  There are a plethora of recipes out there for these.  That's how much people love them.  I made a gluten free version so my peeps with sensitivities could enjoy them, but you feel free to add your own variations.   For my meal prep friends, I served these with lemon-butter zoodles or green beans.  I wanted to keep a low carb, clean, healthy vibe happening.  

#glutenfree #lowcarb #cleaneating #diabeticfriendly #kidfriendly #budgetfriendly #easy #italian #dinner #mealprep #lunchprep #baked #chicken

Ingredients: (4-6 servings)

* Tip - every time I made meatballs, I double the recipe.  That's why you will see a different quantity in the photos.  You pretty much spend the same amount of time mixing, baking, etc., and end up with an extra set to freeze for later.  This recipe is for a single batch.

Meatballs  (4 dozen, 1/2" meatballs) 

• 1 pound ground chicken
• 1 large egg 
• 3 Tbsp plain oatmeal 
• feel free to use breadcrumbs, but oatmeal is a gluten free option and is also a much healthier option
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese  
• please grate it straight from the block, not that cheap stuff in the can.  This will have a much better taste.
• 1/4 cup marinara
• 1 Tbsp garlic paste (~ 3 cloves garlic, very finely minced)
• 1 Tbsp worcestershire sauce 
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp Italian seasoning
• 1/2 tsp dried basil
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1/8 tsp red pepper flakes 

Sauce and Stuff 

• 1 1/2 cup marinara sauce
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella
• fresh basil, snipped into thin ribbons 

Step-by-Step: 

Prep - Preheat oven first to 375F, because this goes pretty quickly.   Line baking sheets with parchment paper for easy cleanup. 

In a large bowl (because it's easier to mix in a big bowl) mix together ground chicken with all the other ingredients listed under "meatballs."  I apologize in advance that some of the pictures are a little out of focus.  My camera was spazzing out.  Sigh. #reallife 

1 pound ground chicken
1 large egg 

3 Tbsp oatmeal

1/4 cup marinara 

1 Tbsp minced garlic

1 Tbsp worcestershire 

1 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp dried basil 

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp black pepper 

1 tsp Italian seasoning

1/8 tsp red pepper flakes 

1/4 cup fresh grated Parm 

 With clean hands, combine until well mixed.

Using a 1/2 oz cookie scoop, scoop out meatballs and roll into smooth balls.  This works best if you have wet hands.  This is a really moist mixture and the water will help you roll them quickly without the meat sticking to your hands.  This is a great job to have some help with.  It's not necessary, but makes the process go really quick.  I person scoops, the other rolls.  Place the rolled meatballs on parchment, evenly spaced.   You don't need to worry about them spreading out, but you don't want them to touch.  Using the cookie scoop allows you to have evenly portioned meatballs that will all have the same cooking time.  

Pop them into the oven at 375F x 20 minutes.  They will firm right up. 

While they are baking, spread about 1/2 cup of marinara in the bottom of a casserole dish.  A 9"x 13" x 2" dish should do perfectly. 

I used a "traditional pasta sauce" from a can that I like, but feel free to use your favorite brand or homemade sauce.   

1/2 cup marinara

When meatballs come out of the oven, nestle them down into the sauce in the casserole dish.  Spread remaining marinara over the top of them.  We want to keep them moist and not allow them to dry out.  

1 cup marinara

Sprinkle shredded mozzarella over the top. Return them to the oven at 375F for another 15 minutes.  We are now just getting all those flavors to come together and allow the cheese to get ooey gooey and bubbly.    

1 cup grated mozzarella 

In the last 5 minutes of baking, sprinkle the shredded basil over the top.

handful of fresh basil ribbons

Serve with your favorite side - pasta, lemon butter zoodles (zucchini noodles) or green beans, broccoli, etc.  If you want to add a salad and bread, there's your complete meal.  

Yumm.  Can you just taste it now?  Warm Italian spices wrapped up in a bite sized morsel of tenderness and let's be honest... sauce and cheese!  

Best of all, there's no guilt!  It only TASTES sinfully dreamy. 

If you do meal prep for your people, this is definitely a great option!

Even your traditional beef eaters will be happy with these. 

Bonus Recipes - 

Egg Roll in a Bowl with Creamy Sriracha Sauce - 

#keto #lowcarb #highprotein #paleo #whole30  #diabeticfriendly #cleaneating #glutenfree #dairyfree   #asian #pork

Mango Avocado Caribbean Jerk Chicken Meal Prep -

#mealprep #glutenfree #dairyfree #easy #familyfriendly

Options for #paleo #whole30 

Asian Inspired Ginger Sesame Turkey Meatballs with Teriyaki Glaze - 

#baked #glutenfree #highprotein #lowfat #mealprep #cleaneating #asian #turkeymeatballs 

#menumusings #kidfriendly

Classic Cobb Salad -

 #cleaneating #glutenfree #salad #chicken #healthy

Pan Seared Chicken in Tarragon Cream Sauce - 

#cleaneating #glutenfree #french #chicken 

Written Method:

Prep - Preheat oven first to 375F, because this goes pretty quickly.   Line baking sheets with parchment paper for easy cleanup. 

In a large bowl (because it's easier to mix in a big bowl) mix together ground chicken with all the other ingredients listed under "meatballs."  I apologize in advance that some of the pictures are a little out of focus.  My camera was spazzing out.  Sigh. #reallife 

With clean hands, combine until well mixed.

Using a 1/2 oz cookie scoop, scoop out meatballs and roll into smooth balls.  This works best if you have wet hands.  This is a really moist filling and the water will help you roll them quickly without the meat sticking to your hands.  This is a great job to have some help with.  It's not necessary, but makes the process go really quick.  I person scoops, the other rolls.  Place the rolled meatballs on parchment, evenly spaced.   You don't need to worry about them spreading out, but you don't want them to touch.  Using the cookie scoop allows you to have evenly portioned meatballs that will all have the same cooking time.  

Pop them into the oven at 375F x 20 minutes.  They will firm right up.  While they are baking, spread about 1/2 cup of marinara in the bottom of a casserole dish.  A 9"x 13" x 2" dish should do perfectly. 

I used a "traditional pasta sauce" from a can that I like, but feel free to use your favorite brand or homemade sauce.   

When meatballs come out of the oven, nestle them down into the sauce in the casserole dish.  Spread remaining marinara over the top of them.  We want to keep them moist and not allow them to dry out.  Sprinkle shredded mozzarella over the top. 

Return them to the oven at 375F for another 15 minutes.  We are now just getting all those flavors to come together and allow the cheese to get ooey gooey and bubbly.  In the last 5 minutes of baking, sprinkle the shredded basil over the top. 

Serve with your favorite side - pasta, lemon butter zoodles (zucchini noodles) or green beans, broccoli, etc.  If you want to add a salad and bread, there's your complete meal. 

Pull Apart Pizza Bites

It's a familiar story to us all.  You have a bunch of kids expected to descend on you after school.  They probably have after school activities and practices, homework and projects.  Everyone is famished and maybe even a little bit on edge - including you.  And face it, it's going to be a long time until dinner.  In all likelihood, unless you intercede, they are going to raid the pantry for ... junk?  Well not today!

I often make a batch of cookies or brownies for my kids as an after school snack, but goodness gracious, they were SO THRILLED to come home to this batch of bite sized delights!  My guess is, your "big guy/girl" would be, too!  Just imagine, you walk in after work and the whole kitchen smells like a pizzeria!  Grab a glass of your favorite beverage, pick up one of these little warm nuggets of goodness, a quick dip into the warm pizza sauce, and pop them into your mouth.  Mmmm.

Print this Recipe!

Ingredients:

• 1 pound mild Italian ground sausage
• feel free to substitute ground beef/turkey/chicken or finely chopped mushrooms for a vegetarian version 
• 1 cup finely chopped onion
• 2 Tbsp finely chopped black olives
• 3/4 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 tsp Italian seasoning
• 2 can premade, canned pizza dough
• Shredded cheese of your choice
• Garlic butter with dried parsley flakes (optional) 
• Warm pizza sauce for serving

Step-by-Step:

Let me first start by saying you don't have to make your filling like mine.  You can obviously make it any way your family prefers as long as you chop everything tiny and the filling is not too "wet."  You don't want the bread to be soggy.
I chose Italian sausage because my family enjoys the taste and it has a lot of flavor in it already, so we are off to a good start.  So let's go ahead and get that browning.

1 pound ground mild Italian sausage

When your meat is about halfway cooked, throw in your finely chopped onions.  You will want to be crumbling up your meat as small as you can get it while it's browning.

1 cup finely diced sweet onion

Now just start dumping all of the seasoning in with the meat and onions while it continues to cook.

2 Tbsp finely chopped black olives

My kiddos would have never eaten this if I had actually told them there were black olives in it.  Ha!  But this small amount of briny, saltiness adds a bit of special something in the flavoring that is fantastic and part of that "pizzeria" smell that everyone loves.  Shhhh!  Don't tell them.  Bonus points, they already come chopped up this tiny in the can.  Yay!!!

3/4 tsp kosher salt
(Use a lot less if using regular table salt!)

1/2 tsp black pepper

1 Tbsp Italian seasoning

1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

And this is what our filling looks like.
*By the way, you could totally make the filling in advance and then just heat it up enough to take the chill off of it to assemble these.

Alrighty.  Let's put these together.  First I sprayed my black iron skillet with a bit of cooking spray and inserted a circle of parchment paper in the bottom.  This probably wasn't necessary in retrospect (because seasoned black iron skillets release cooked products so well), but I was doing it for good measure.  It may still be a good idea if you make this in a tart pan or casserole dish.

Parchment Paper

You may have a favorite pizza dough that you enjoy making from scratch.  If so, feel completely free to use that.  Out of convenience, I chose a premade, canned pizza dough.  Quick and easy.  No shame.   Hey, you do what YOU want to do.  It's your kitchen.

I found a biscuit cutter lurking in the drawer.  I think it was about 2.5" in diameter.  It looked about the right size.  (So scientific, right?)  So that's what I used.

Put a small amount of filling on the dough.  You may want to stretch them out a little bit first.

First, fold them in half, like a taco.

Then, fold your taco in half so that the ends touch each other.  Pinch the ends together.

Now start arranging them from the outside first in your baking dish/pan/skillet.

Ultimately, you will end up with what looks like a large flower.  Somewhat like a chrysanthemum.

Bake at 400F for 20 minutes or until golden brown.  Oven temperatures may vary.  Cooking times may also vary according to the type of cooking vessel you are using.  Eg.  A glass baking dish may cook differently than cast iron.  

Optional - When my pizza bites were almost done, I melted a couple tablespoons of butter (I didn't measure), liberally sprinkled in some garlic powder and parsley flakes to brush on top.  I just love the sheen it gives the crust, the smell of that garlic butter, and yes - that taste!

melted butter + garlic powder + dried parsley flakes

Can you just SMELL this?!

 Okay, so I may have tried one or three before the kids got home.  You know.  Just to make sure they were edible.  😄

And then this happened.  Here are a couple of today's taste testers.

Mmm.  So good you have to close your eyes while you taste it!

Yumm.  This treat even calls for a Shirley Temple! 

Poor Daisy.  She waited patiently.  It smelled so good.  But alas... no pizza bites for the pooch.
Doggonit.  They sure smell better than dog cookies!

Bonus Recipes - 
Skinny Mexican Pizza - Got teens?  Shhh!  This is turkey!

Shrimp and Corn Soup - Super easy and feeds a crowd!

Super Easy Stuffed Shells - So easy and kid friendly!

Thai Chicken Salad Cones - Perfect for your brown bag lunches or ladies luncheon!

Old Fashioned Vegetable Beef Soup - Because we all need comfort food like Mom and Grandma used to make it!

Check out my cookbook!
These make perfect gifts for your kids about to graduate!  Click the link for more information about this interactive cookbook.  Each recipe has its own QR Code with links back to the blog for complete step-by-step pictures.  

Written Method:

Let me first start by saying you don't have to make your filling like mine.  You can obviously make it any way your family prefers as long as you chop everything tiny and the filling is not too "wet."  You don't want the bread to be soggy.
Brown your meat.  When your meat is about halfway cooked, throw in your finely chopped onions.  You will want to be crumbling up your meat as small as you can get it while it's browning.
Now just start dumping all of the seasoning in with the meat and onions while it continues to cook.

*By the way, you could totally make the filling in advance and then just heat it up enough to take the chill off of it to assemble these.

Alrighty.  Let's put these together.  First I sprayed my black iron skillet with a bit of cooking spray and inserted a circle of parchment paper in the bottom.  This probably wasn't necessary in retrospect (because seasoned black iron skillets release cooked products so well), but I was doing it for good measure.  It may still be a good idea if you make this in a tart pan or casserole dish.
You may have a favorite pizza dough that you enjoy making from scratch.  If so, feel completely free to use that.  Out of convenience, I chose a premade, canned pizza dough.  Quick and easy.  No shame. 

Cut pizza dough into circles of about 2.5 inches each.  Put a small amount of filling on the dough.  You may want to stretch them out a little bit first.  First, fold them in half, like a taco.  Then, fold your taco in half so that the ends touch each other.  Pinch the ends together.  Now start arranging them from the outside first in your baking dish/pan/skillet.  Ultimately, you will end up with what looks like a large flower.  Somewhat like a chrysanthemum.

Bake at 400F for 20 minutes or until golden brown.  Oven temperatures may vary.  Cooking times may also vary according to the type of cooking vessel you are using.  Eg.  A glass baking dish may cook differently than cast iron.  

Optional - When my pizza bites were almost done, I melted a couple tablespoons of butter (I didn't measure), liberally sprinkled in some garlic powder and parsley flakes to brush on top.

Serve with warm pizza sauce for dipping.